Dr. Garth Davis reads this board...

man, I so hope I can head to the NOLA or the NYC conference this year!!!!

I wanted to say that I found this part interesting:

"He said the big reason he does not do the DS is that it requires patients to be compliant and he has a hard enough time keeping his gastric bypass and lapband patients compliant, even with their good aftercare onsite progam."

...largely because the 15 month out RNYer at my 3 week group visit had completely stopped taking her medications.  She said she was tired of the expense and couldn't find a multivite that didn't taste awful.  I recommended Vitalady and Bariatric Advantage to see if maybe there were flavored vites that would sit well with her, and received a snappy response that she's not sinking any more money into that crap.

Soooooo yeah.  The more common the DS becomes, the more severe complications we're going to see because of the rate of idiocy in the general population.  Psych "consults" are an absolute joke - can a trained professional really know from talking to a person for 20 minutes that they're going to stick to the program after surgery?  NO.  Until these surgeons figure out how to properly screen their candidates to ensure that the people having the surgery (1) can afford the post-op regimen and (2) have the determination and intellectual ability to practice excellent self-care, these incidences will become more common.

I fricken LOVE YOU.

I had my DS two years ago.  But even though I live in Houston where there are two surgeons who do the DS, I traveled to Miami to have it done with Dr. Gagner where he was practicing at the time.  I did consult with Dr. Garth Davis when I wanted a revision from my lap band.  He was very "anti DS" at that time and I very much felt it.   After my surgery with Dr. Gagner in Miami, Dr. Gagner called Dr. Garth Davis and spoke to him about the DS.  Dr. Gagner came into my room where I was recovering, sat on my bed, and simply said that Dr. Garth still had many misunderstandings about the DS.   With this surgery you need someone that is experienced.  It's a very hard surgery for most surgeons.   I'm so glad there are a few surgeons in Houston that are doing the DS--still beginners in my opinion.... but again, some surgeons are more Pro DS than others and more experienced with it.   In my case, I was self pay and only wanted THE BEST DS Surgeon... which was Gagner and Rabkin.   I love Dr. Gagner.  Plus, his fee was only $19,000 revision from a band.   No complications.  Your surgeon choice makes a difference.  Research well.   Read up.  Study.  Take your time.  Good luck! 

Dr Wilson probably aint the choice. Garth Davis I would imagine has more experience , especially since he proctored with Simper.

for my self...I wouldnt use either of them. Too many questions still. Dr Daryl Stewart in Denton is the surgeon of choice as far as I'm concerned.

Well I hope he reads this. Not only did I go back to being borderline diabetic after rny. I also ended up having hypoglycemic episodes. Has he even read any of the studies about rny possibly not being the solution to diabetes?!

I just heard from Dr. Stewarts office and they are providers for Aetna.  They are mailing me the DVD today.